Poker Articles

By Adam | Published Aug 10 2005, 01:33 PM |

Our site has recently become 6 months old, and we could never have predicted where we'd be today.  A lot of our success is due in part to some great players who have taken it upon themselves to share poker strategy, personal stories, and anything else they find valuable with the rest of this poker community.  This article is the first of a series I will be doing, making a tribute to some of these players who have made our pocketfives.com experience just that much better.  I will simply be laying out a series of AawwNutz's posts from our first few months of existance that we found particularly valuable.

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This one is his first post, which was made on Feb 2, 2005:


Hey Poker Fans,

A friend of mine turned me on to this site - wow, really well done.

I am very flattered to make the top players list.  My poker the past few months has been better than I ever imagined it could be.  As a part-time player, I get to play 8-10 tourneys per week over about 4 sessions.

I would like to publicly thank brsavage for his few words of wisdom one night last October that took my tournament game up a notch.  I had 0 tournament wins at that point with several close calls.  With his simpe advice, I have cashed in about 35% of my tourneys since then.  I also now have more than 10 $10,000+ paydays.  I should really pay Chris commission - nah, he doesn't need my little dab. 

I think my playing style is very situational.  Often my largest pots in the final few tables come from other players becoming a little passive.  My all-in luck tends to run bad, but I'm sure everyone feels that way.  I finished 11th last night in Paradise 50k losing 6 out of 7 races the last few tables when I was a 3-1 favorite in 4 of them.  In Tunica, I lost 8 of 9 races while being ahead in 8 of them when we turned the cards over.  I guess I shouldn't be all-in so often, huh. 

Anyway, keep up the good work here.  Seeing my name up there has really motivated me to improve my game to catch Chris.  He's not really that good.

Allen Carter
AawwNutz

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And not long after, on February 4th, in response to a question about how to become more aggressive late in tournaments:


I will let you know what I think, but the advice is worth what you paid for it.

Becoming aggressive does not mean CALLING a lot of bets.  It means MAKING a lot of bets that will make everyone else fold their hands because they are probably playing extra tight.  Bluffs late work really well.

I was playing the final table in the UB 17k guaranteed the other night.  With about 5 people left, I opened it up and started raising any reasonable starting hand when I was first in.  I picked up the blinds and antes about 3 out of 4 times.  Obviously, if someone called me, I knew I was probably behind.  At one point, I folded three straight hands and got a comment from one of the other players that they could not believe that I hadn't raised him in the past three hands.  A few hands later, I opened up with a pot bet with 10 10 and a guy with 5 5 pushed all-in assuming I was just a maniac.  I didn't win the tournament because I pushed all-in w/AJ against KK three handed, but I always had a lot of chips and always had a shot.  I prefer to be the one that everyone is watching out for. 

One final piece of advice about this aggression:  after someone calls you, remind yourself that you are behind when the flop comes - play conservatively.  Make your profit from the antes and blinds and your real hands that people play back at. 

Hope my thoughts help.

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Posted on March 6, 2005, in response to a question about how to get over bad beats in a tournament:


There's no easy way to get over it.  I usually vent immediately - something I would like to stop doing.  I do get over it pretty quickly, though, because experience shows me that I don't play well when mad.  Reason it out before and after, and then when it actually happens, you'll have a head start on dealing with it.  Like all things, it takes practice.

"Poker" is about making decisions and using strategy.  "Cards" determines the winner.  All you can do is play correctly.  If you go out of a tourney any other way than a bad beat, you didn't play well.

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This was on March 28th, in response to a thread about a player wanting to take their tourney game to the next level.  DoubleLucky posted a thoughtful response above, including bankroll requirements, and this was added in by AawwNutz:


I've apparently not played long enough to experience a losing streak like DL is talking about.  DL is such a talented player, I'm sure he is speaking theoretically about 100 tournament windows of net loss.  Looking back at my past 6 months of so-so record keeping, I've averaged just short of 3 times my buy-ins.  It was too difficult to pinpoint 100 window sessions in this group.  Certainly, I had 20 window sessions where I lost money, but, surprisingly most of those have the comments of "played like a donkey, played too aggressive, etc.". 

If I had to try and pinpoint the difference in my game that vaulted me from average to above average, I would guess that the following are my key components.

1)  You can be first in the pot for a raise with the top 20% of all hands in the right position.  Most people play too tight when opening a pot.  Pleaese note that this does not apply to UTG and early position.  You still need to play only premium hands, cause a re-raise means a throw-away without even a chance to make a sneaky hand.  This is all based on reasonable chips to blind ratios, of course.

2)  You cannot even call a raise with handls like KJ, QJ, A10, AJ and even hands like KQ and AQ up against certain opponents.  Why call.  You cannot re-raise to gain control of the pot and expect to make a profit.  If you call, hit your J or 10, and then make a bet, a top-player can blow you off the hand with a correct bet.  He had "control" of the pot, so you'll be wondering if he really has Aces or Kings.  If you are not in control of the pot, don't play it unless you are slow-playing it.

3)  You will not consistently get good enough cards to win.  You have to earn some pots along the way.  Poker is a game of recognition.  You have to recognize opportunity that comes from playing styles, playing position, board combinations, and tournament conditions.  It takes skill to bluff profitably, but there are lots of pots that it just doesn't make sense for someone to find out if you are bluffing.  Don't bluff big pots unless the board is perfect.  Try to pick up small pots to keep you afloat until the real monster shows up.

4)  The real secret is to win more with your big hands and lose less with your second best hands.  You're probably saying, yeah right - thanks for stating the obvious.  But, this is a skill.  I love big hands in the blinds.  Perfect opportunity to camouflage your hand.  If you have AA in the blind, consider slow playing it under the right conditions.  If you slow play something, don't be afraid to throw it away.  You slow-play to build a stack while its early.  Late in a tourney, you may want to just take down the pot pre-flop or try to get heads-up.  One of my most rewarding moments is when I've got a monster and someone calls me with 2nd or 3rd pair because I made that last bet look like a bluff by over-betting the pot in an amount that won't hurt him too much.  If the pot is sitting at 900, try a 1300 bet on the river.  Almost everyone thinks that it is a bluff.  There are many more deceptive skills that can add value to your hands.

These are my ideas on tourneys.  Obviously, I'm not the caliber player that some of these guys are, so I welcome any comments about my strategies and possible improvements.  Good luck.

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Posted on March 28th (same date as last post), in response to a post about difficulties cashing in tournaments:


A lot of people use a strategy to play tight to get into a position to make some money.  As soon as the money gets close and again when the final table gets close, chips start moving.

My strategy is a little different in that I try to play a big hand early and try to double up - maybe slow play a big pair or push all-in on a big draw.  If I get an above average chip stack, my margin for error is much greater than average - I can take a bad beat and still be alive.  I will then usually slow down as long as I'm always above average and try to ride the average into position to play more aggressively near the money and near the final table.  At the final table, I'm usually in good enough shape to pick my spots as smaller stacks jockey for position.

I will tell you that my money finishes seem to bunch up at 5 spots from the money, 11th-13th, and 1st-5th.  I hardly every finish 25th or 8th.  I play poker mostly for the joy of victory, so that's what I go for.  I might be more consistent with a different strategy.

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Posted on April 7th, in response to a post about handling the fluctuations in poker:


Well, I set a personal record for earnings in February.  In March, I managed to only win about 1/4 of that, not counting the $11k for a WSOP seat.  I'm currently on a bad run where I've gotten in the money only 5 of the past 21 tournaments with no final tables.  Probably my best streak has been in the money 24 out of 38 tournies with 14 final tables and 5 victories.

You want to know what the difference is?  Getting rivered versus not getting rivered.

I've had 3 finishes in the mid 20's the past two weeks that I am every bit as proud of as any of my victories because I played the best poker that I can.  Scratching, clawing, bluffing, stealing, spitting, and just down-right begging for every chip I could get.

The last 3-4 weeks has been my FIRST rough patch, and man it's brutal.  I'm fighting the cringe feeling when I get all-in with somebody.  I hate to expect to lose.  It'll pass, though.  Last night it was AA cracked by 44 in Paradise 50k.  It was QQ cracked by 22 in Stars.  In UB, my bluff was snapped by a guy with 3rd pair.

I am excited though.  Just imagine the rush that's coming!!!

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Posted on April 12th, in response to a question about stealing blinds in tournaments:


I think it depends on your perspective of stealing.  I don't steal with any two cards.  I steal with A7, Q10, 109s from before and at the cutoff.  My stealing hand has to be better from the button. 

You also have to know the BB.  Is he a defender?  Some people have a defensive mentality  about their blinds.  I love it when I piss someone off by stealing their blinds, and then I get a good hand and I make it look like every other steal attempt.  They push, I bust.

vigorous stealing should only be done with a healthy stack or a low stack.  Moderate stacks are tougher.  If someone busts you on a steal, you have just given up almost 20 hands of cards. 

I think stealing is overrated if you talk about doing it with no hand.  If you have A7 on the cutoff you probably have the best hand, and are just betting it.

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If you're interested in reading more by AawwNutz, please click articles in the left sidebar and go into Guest Articles, where you can find a couple WSOP stories he wrote.  Also, please feel free to search through the rest of his posts and remind the community about some others that you may have found personally helpful or significant in some way.

Thanks again, AawwNutz, for helping to make this community a great place.